Violence and chaos erupt at UC-Berkeley in protest against Milo Yiannopoulos

Violent protests broke out at the University of California-Berkeley Wednesday night, leading to the cancellation of conservative speaker Milo Yiannopoulos and the eventual lockdown of the campus.

Protesters against a scheduled speaking appearance by Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos on the University of California at Berkeley campus march Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2017, on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley, Calif. The event was cancelled due to size of the crowd and several fires set. (Photo: Ben Margot, AP)

The protest appears to have been organized by a group called “Berkeley Against Trump” and was originally planned to be peaceful, according to the group’s website — and it started off that way.

But the protest quickly devolved into violence that included the setting of fires, the knocking over of barrier fences, the shooting off of fireworks, and even physical altercation — leading to the eventual lockdown of the campus by university police, who instructed people to avoid the area or leave the campus.

.@UCBerkeley Milo event cancelled. Shelter in place if on campus. All campus buildings on lockdown. #miloatcal

“We are here to protest the presence of Milo in our campus, which is a public university, and we believe that no hate speech, racism, misogyny and transphobia should be tolerated here,” the group posted.

As the Daily Californian, UC-Berkeley’s newspaper, reported, at about 7:30 p.m., police started shooting tear gas into the crowd from a vantage point on the student union building. The protest continued — and moved off campus — for hours, turning riotous.

UC-Berkeley estimated the crowd to be about 1,500 strong. The university released a statement regarding the violent protests:

“We condemn in the strongest possible terms the violence and unlawful behavior that was on display and deeply regret that those tactics will now overshadow the efforts to engage in legitimate and lawful protest against the performer’s presence and perspectives.”

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education also put out a statement, calling the violence “counterproductive”: